05-22-2010, 05:03 PM
Quote:But I thought the word for camel in Aramaic is "Gamel" and "Ghamle" is a rope used to tie up a boat. I know that Aramaic don't use vowels in their writings. So they write identical. So I was wondering if St. Matthew was referring to "Ghamle" (in speaking) when He wrote "Gamal."The grammar of the words is of this type:
g'mel (not used in Peshitta NT) - camel
g'am:lo` - a-camel, or the-camel
g'am:le` - the-camels
What we do know from the Peshitta NT is that a cord, rope, or rigging used to suspend or tie a small boat to the larger ship was called a ch:bel. Refer to Acts 27:32. It was also used as a whip in John 2:15, so it is likely not significant in diameter.
FWIW, I have not seen anything definitive enough yet, to sway me to the opinion of g'mel meaning either rope or camel. I would need to see a specific Aramaic example of where G:M:L was used to specifically denote a rope. The lexicon listing by Paul is fairly convincing, but lexicons are not the same as actual usage.